Kerning is the horizontal adjustment of letters in a word to give a pleasing appearance and make it easier to read.
Kerning does not matter too much in paragraphs and chunks of text but bad kerning can stick out like a sore thumb on large text on a sign or garment.
Many sign making and desk top publishing applications attempt to adjust the kerning automatically but is also good to know how to adjust it manually.
In CorelDRAW you can adjust the kerning by selecting a line of text with the shape tool (second one down on the toolbox). You can drag the letters around by grabbing the little boxes that appear on the baseline to the left of each letter.
Aim to get an equal amount of white space between each letter as opposed to just equally spacing out the letters.

When drawing in CorelDRAW or any design package it is useful to try to think in simple shapes and remember you don’t have to draw everything if you can duplicate parts of the image you have already drawn.

I have used the rectangle tool to first draw a square (hold down Ctrl whilst dragging out a rectangle to constrain it to a perfect square) and then converted it to curves (Ctrl+Q) before rotating it 45 deg and deleting a node to turn it into a triangle. Another way to do this is to use the polygon tool and set the number of sides to three. There is always more than one way to do things but I will be showing you the way I do things. I will try to remember to mention alternative methods but if I forget in the videos I will try to put in the blog text.

You can use CorelDRAW quite adequately without using any keyboard shortcuts but if you use it a lot, learning a few shortcuts will really speed up your work.

It is best to try and learn the shortcut to the operations you most frequently use. Things like ’Cut’, ‘Copy’ & ‘Paste’ and if you are anything like me ‘Undo’.

CorelDRAW -and most other applications for that matter- make it very easy to find out what the shortcut keys for frequently used operations are. Click on any of the options in the menu bar (At the top of the screen with things like File, Edit and veiw) and a drop down menu will appear.

On the right hand side of the drop down menu you will see -what to the uninitiated looks like some sort of code- the keyboard shortcuts.Things like (Ctrl+N) which is the shortcut for opening a new document and (Ctrl+S) for save.

If you use the tool bar for a lot of your tasks, CorelDRAW helps you out here as well. Mouse over a tool bar button and hold your cursor over the button for a second or so without pressing it and a ‘Tool Tip’ will pop up telling you what the button is. Often this tool tip will include the keyboard shortcut for that task. Cool eh!

This is also true for the tools in your toolbox down the left side of the screen.

So it is very easy to find out what the keyboard shortcuts for everyday tasks are just by being observant.

Start off by learning and forcing yourself to use one or two everyday shortcuts like ‘Copy (Ctrl+C)’,’ Paste (Ctrl+V)’ and ‘Undo (Ctrl+Z)’ and they will soon become second nature. Plus a lot of these shortcuts are the same in all programs so learning them will increase your speed in all your applications.

Have fun and I will be back soon with some more CorelDRAW and vector graphics tips and tricks.

I know you already add the cost of any vectorizing to the price of the jobs you are doing. You do don’t you? I hope you do. You need to cover your costs, but you can do more than just cover the cost of raster to vector conversion.

Don’t just let the finished vector graphics fester on your hard drive. Set them free and make some money at the same time.

The reason you are getting me to vectorize a logo is probably because your client doesn’t have their own logo in a suitable format.

Well put your sales head on and start extolling the virtues of having their logo as a vector.

Their vector logo will be scalable to any size without loss of quality.
This means they can use there logo on anything from a business card or web page to their vehicles or even a massive billboard and it will always look pin sharp.

Their vector logo will be editable.
If they need to change the colour of the logo or just use a part of their logo, no problem with a vector.

If they don’t have their logo as a vector graphic, every time they go to a different company to get garments printed or embroidered, vehicle graphics or signs, wide format or banner printing, they are going to get charged to have their logo vectorized.

Show them that by spending a little now they will save a packet in the long run.

Everyone’s a winner.

If you have a bitmap image that you need re-drawing as a vector please feel free to upload it for a quote.

I cost my vector jobs based on time. The more time I will need to spend on a job the more money it is going to cost you, but there are things you can do to reduce the amount the job will cost.

First things Font.
The majority of my time is spent identifying fonts, finding fonts or re-drawing fonts I can’t find or identify.
If you recognise any of the fonts in the jobs you send me, please include the font name in the e-mail you send me. This will greatly reduce the amount of time a job will take and the cost to you.

Second File.
If you have multiple versions of the image you want me to de-draw, send them all. Especially if you have them in different file formats.
The more detail an original image contains the easier it is for me to re-draw it and the cheaper it will be.
If an image is very small or blurry or both then I will need to go on-line and spend time trying to find a better image. All this costs you money.

Third Links
If you know of an online version of the image, please include this in you e-mail.
This could save a lot of time searching for a better image and -you guessed it- save you money.

Fourth PDFs
PDF files act like a container and hidden inside this container could be a perfectly usable vector graphic.
If you have a pdf file containing the image you want me to re-draw please send it. This is the single best way of saving money when using skarekrow.co.uk. In fact you could save so much money you could get your vector graphic for FREE.
That’s right. If I receive a pdf containing a usable vector file, I will extract it and send it back to you FREE OF CHARGE.
This is not to say that all vector graphics contained within a pdf will be suitable for your requirements. Some are drawn to only be used in print and are no good for cutting on a vinyl cutter or using for screen printing but many are.
If you have a pdf, send it.

So in conclusion:
Name any fonts you recognise

Send any files you have containing the image you need re-drawing. Particularly pdf files.

Include any web links to the image

If you have a bitmap image that you need re-drawing as a vector please feel free to e-mail me for a quote.